The roller coaster of data, stress and emotion that has come to represent much of life in the US these days has certainly continued to roll this past week. 

Somewhat naively I keep assuming that financial, real estate, and economic news will slow down and stabilize a bit at least for a week or two – a few weeks of relative peace and stability may be years away.  It’s ever more imperative to have the ability to “get away from it all” now and then – admittedly “getting away” is oft a much easier concept to bandy about than to actually accomplish. 

Here’s a suggestion and a bit of shameless promotion of a project that I’ve been lucky enough to be involved with.  I’ve had the good fortune of joining up with a very talented team here in Bozeman to form Dry Fly Media – a fly fishing and river related media company.  The team has a pocketful of projects underway that are outlined on the Dry Fly Media website, but there’s one they’ve just finished that will help you “get away” from the daily grind, if even for a few minutes. 

The Dry Fly Media team has just produced a series of DVDs they’re calling the Rivers in Motion series.  They’ve spent several hundred hours this past fall (2008) on five of the great rivers of Montana and the West – the Madison, the Henry’s Fork, the Yellowstone, the Missouri, and the Gallatin – capturing the sights and sounds of these great rivers in high quality video.  Their goal was to make the rivers and the majestic vistas that surround them the “star of the show” – there’s very little human presence to distract.  The footage was often shot literally while standing in the river or from a sterling vantage point on the bank – they were originally intended for fly fisherman.  The videos run about 80 minutes, and have been enjoyed in some very interesting ways. 

I find myself playing the DVDs as a soothing background in the office while writing or just when I need a break from the press of the day.  It’s amazing – the sound track was recorded as the video was shot – no human voices, no machinery – just the music of the flowing water.  My wife thinks they’re great background sound for a nice dinner with friends, and we’ve even played them in the background with friends over to chat and at a couple of dinner parties to rave reviews.  Friends are using them for their Yoga and workout time, and there’s been an interesting response from the healthcare field as well. 

Need an escape that you can access in an instant ?  The Rivers in Motion series is a pretty unique option – it’s about as close as you can get to standing in the river without getting your feet wet.

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